1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card edge connector and a method of manufacturing a card edge connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
JP-A-2000-164273 discloses a connector that includes a housing and a plurality of terminals protruding from the housing. One end portions of the terminals are soldered with respective lands on a circuit board. The other end portions of the terminals are configured to be connected with an external connector. The other end portions of the terminals are arranged in a plurality of steps in a direction vertical to a planer direction of the circuit board in addition to the planer direction of the circuit board so that a width of the connector in the planer direction of the circuit board is reduced.
In the connector, each of the terminals is required to be soldered with the corresponding land on the circuit board. Thus, the number of components and the number of manufacturing process increase. In addition, when the circuit board is discarded, a segregated disposal of the circuit board requires time and effort.
In view of such circumstances, JP-A-2003-178834 discloses a card edge connector that includes a housing and a plurality of connector terminals disposed in the housing. In the present case, a plurality of contact terminals is disposed on a surface of a circuit board. When the circuit board is inserted into the housing, the contact terminals come in contact with the connector terminals, and thereby the contact terminals and the connector terminals are electrically coupled with each other.
In the card edge connector, the connector terminals are arranged in the housing so that the connector terminals can come in contact with the contact terminals disposed on the surface of the circuit board. Thus, the connector terminals are difficult to be arranged in a plurality of steps in a direction vertical to a planer direction of the circuit board.
JP-U-6-86366 discloses a card edge connector in which connector terminals are arranged in a plurality of steps in a direction vertical to a planer direction of a circuit board. The circuit board includes a multilayered substrate. An end portion of an inner substrate extends to an outside of an end portion of an outer substrate, and a plurality of terminals is disposed at the end portion of the inner substrate and the end portion of the outer substrate. Thus, a step is provided between an inner card edge part formed at the end portion of the inner substrate and an outer card edge part formed at the end portion of the outer substrate. In the card edge connector, a plurality of connector terminals are arranged in a plurality of steps in the direction vertical to the planer direction of the circuit board so as to correspond to the terminals of the circuit board.
In a case where the step is provided by using a thickness of one substrate in the multilayered substrate, it is difficult to provide a step having an enough height. Thus, the connector terminals of the card edge connector are formed into a shape fitted into a height of the step and the connector terminals are required to be closely arranged. As a result, a short circuit may occur.